Saturday, February 17, 2007

Peter Pan peanut butter recall is today’s top mover at Yahoo. According to forbes.com,

Consumers should not eat certain jars of Peter Pan peanut butter or Great Value peanut butter because they may be contaminated with Salmonella Tennessee, a bacterium that causes food-borne illness, U.S. officials said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning is based on data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the CDC, there have been 288 cases of food-borne illness in 39 states tied to eating Peter Pan peanut butter. Salmonella is carried by animals, but somehow was transferred during the manufacturing process to the peanuts.

People can identify the affected jars of Peter Pan or Great Value peanut butter by looking for a product code -- located on the lid -- that starts with the number 2111. Both brands are made in a single plant in Georgia by the ConAgra company. Great Value peanut butter made by other manufacturers is not affected, according to the FDA.

The FDA is recommending that all affected jars of Peter Pan or Great Value peanut butter purchased since May 2006 be discarded.

The outbreak appears to have started in August 2006. As a result of testing and recent case control studies, the CDC was finally able to identify Peter Pan peanut butter as the likely cause of illness.

ConAgra announced Thursday that it was recalling all varieties of Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Great Value Peanut Butter beginning with product code 2111.